Alice Atherton's Grand Tour
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The heartwarming story of a young girl sent to live with the extraordinary Murphy Family in southern France.
Ten-year-old Alice Atherton is sent by her father to spend the summer with his dear friends the Murphys who live with their three children and pet monkey in the French Riveria. There, Alice will meet and learn from some of the most extraordinary luminaries of the time. She visits a junk yard with Pablo Picasso looking for objects to make into art, performs a dance inspired by celestial bodies with the renowned Ballet Russes, and imagines magical adventures with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
An uplifting story that will appeal to readers who love books by authors like Kate DiCamillo and Jeanne Birdsall.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Based on real-life American expatriates who hosted creative luminaries at their Antibes home, "Villa America," this entertaining 1927-set novel from Blume (Julia and the Art of Practical Travel), follows 10-year-old New Yorker Alice Atherton, an only child grieving her mother's death six months earlier. Hoping to revive her spirits, her publisher father sends Alice to the South of France to stay with his friends Gerald and Sara Murphy, experts on "the art of living fully." Welcomed to the Murphys' home in Antibes, Alice joins their three children, pet monkey, and famous visitors, including Sergei Diaghilev, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. Offered a summertime education "unlike any other," the children make art with Picasso, learn to appreciate simple things with Hemingway, and embark on a treasure hunt with the Fitzgeralds, hijinks that help Alice learn to enjoy life while grappling with the loss of her mother. Comedic characterizations and standard adventure plotting accompany an amusing premise, idyllic French Riviera ambiance, and introduction to era-specific creatives in this upbeat escapade. Characters present as white. Capsule biographies of the historical figures conclude. Ages 8–12.
